Recognizing the growing importance of technology in financial services, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission yesterday issued statements indicating how both agencies will be ramping up the size and scope of their technology capabilities to keep pace with the rapidly evolving tech ecosystem.
At the CFPB, for example, this means hiring more technologists and embedding them into the CFPB’s core functions, like supervisory examinations and enforcement proceedings. You know how every TV show involving a group of characters has a nerd or a geek or a computer superwhiz? That’s the CFPB’s strategy going forward.
The CFPB is also using technologists to conduct research and analysis on how technology is being used and how it is changing. The Bureau published a report on the use of advanced technologies, like generative AI, in customer service, and aims to do more of that type of work going forward.
“From cracking down on data abuses and shoddy AI to tracking Big Tech’s movement into financial services, technology is fundamental to the CFPB’s work,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, in a statement. “Our technologists help the agency enforce existing laws and track emerging risks to consumers to ensure that American families are protected through whatever technological changes the market encounters.”
Financial services companies are increasingly using advanced technologies and, at the same time, technology companies are entering the consumer finance space, the CFPB noted. That means the CFPB has “to be a leader when it comes to building agency capabilities to address transformative technologies,” it said.
At the FTC, meanwhile, it is working on the intersection of law enforcement and technology and attempting to bolster both of those areas. It released a series of findings, such as:
- Recognizing the Need to Strengthen Capacity Due to the Increasing Digitization of the Economy
- Recognizing the Need to Strengthen Enforcement Efforts Through Increased Technical Capacity and Expertise
- Recognizing the Need to Strengthen International Agency Cooperation at the Level of Technical Experts
